1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to photographic cards with a picture on one side and a printed message on the reverse side, specifically picture post cards for a plurality of applications including advertising postcards and other forms of postcards, personal greeting cards, photographic fie and identification cards. This invention also relates to the method used to process and imprint the photographic cards and the photographic paper material used for making same.
2. Description of Prior Art
Conventional picture postcards have been used for advertising and many other purposes for many years and the method for making these postcards is public domain information. Conventional picture postcards consist of a sheet of rigid paper material having a printed picture on one side and a printed message on the other side with space for addressing and postage. The method used to make conventional picture postcards is the traditional printing press using typesetting procedures and a number of color separations for printing color photographs. A very large quantity (on the order of tens of thousands) of cards of a single subject and message must be printed, to justify the cost of the color separations and use of the traditional typeset method of printing.
This type of mass produced postcard is very popular for tourist attractions and for certain advertising applications for mass markets. However, many small businesses and individuals cannot justify the cost of printing these postcards for more personal uses or for specific small quantity (under ten thousand) advertising purposes. Since 1973, several unique methods for making picture postcards have been invented to attempt to solve these problems. Each of these methods for making picture postcards proposed to date suffer from a major shortcoming, thereby limiting their commercial value. They all require some degree of assembly using two or more pieces. The most recent being U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,780 to Ross (Sep. 4, 1990) which shows a card covered with adhesive, a protective sheet and a border. U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,566 to Hoebel (Aug. 14, 1990) shows a similar construction with a portion of one panel using a folded easel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,093 to Suttles and Madsen (May 5, 1987) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,633 to Murrell (Dec. 9, 1980) both show folded hinged panels for holding photographs in place. U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,881 shows a construction technique using a clear plastic sheet to hold a photograph in place.
The problem of requiring assembly of a plurality of pieces as shown in the prior art, drastically limits the use of these picture postcards for a number of individual applications such as small quantity, direct mail advertising. The labor cost for assembly is prohibitive for a member of different types of applications and it would be highly advantageous to remedy this deficiency in the prior art. Imprinting the message directly on the reverse surface of a photograph, thereby negating any requirements for assembly of separate pieces, would drastically reduce the costs for producing the photographic cards. Also, the image quality of the photograph itself would be much better than any printed color separations, and the cost for processing and printing the color separations would be eliminated. In addition, the requirement for printing separate name and address mailing labels can be eliminated, thereby further reducing the extra materials and labor costs revolved. Very small quantities of advertising postcards and personal greeting cards could be cost justified using the method for imprinting and the photographic paper material of this invention.